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Rural India to Sustain Wireless Growth
Techtree News Staff, Dec 02, 2008 1728 hrs ISTThanks to cheap mobile handsets and low tariff
India's booming mobile telephony sector is projected to continue its steady uptrend with a major share originating from the rural areas. India's user-base is expected to swell to 700 million by 2012 from the present over 300 million - with 650 million users alone being wireless subscribers.
According to a report, jointly released by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Ernst & Young, as much as 40% of the next 250 million Indian wireless subscribers will come from rural areas.
In sheer numbers, that amounts to an impressive 100 million subscribers from the rural areas alone. As for the ubiquitous landline, it is fast losing its preferred status thanks to cheap mobile handsets and ever-dropping tariff.
Another factor that is driving the boom in the rural areas is the rather low teledensity in these areas. Overall, India has an average teledensity figure of over 30% - mostly due to the large user base spread across the many urban centers. However, if you consider only the rural areas, the density still languishes in single digits.
Giving credibility to the Ernst & Young and CII report is the TRAI's own data, which says that the total subscriber additions from the rural areas have now surpassed the additions from the four metros. The rural areas added over 11.3 million subscribers in the first nine months of 2008. During the same period, the number of urban subscribers added was 10.3 million.
The report also adds that this trend is expected to continue until 2012 when an estimated 120 million rural users will switch to mobile devices compared to just 62 million in the urban spectrum.
According to a report, jointly released by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Ernst & Young, as much as 40% of the next 250 million Indian wireless subscribers will come from rural areas.
In sheer numbers, that amounts to an impressive 100 million subscribers from the rural areas alone. As for the ubiquitous landline, it is fast losing its preferred status thanks to cheap mobile handsets and ever-dropping tariff.
Another factor that is driving the boom in the rural areas is the rather low teledensity in these areas. Overall, India has an average teledensity figure of over 30% - mostly due to the large user base spread across the many urban centers. However, if you consider only the rural areas, the density still languishes in single digits.
Giving credibility to the Ernst & Young and CII report is the TRAI's own data, which says that the total subscriber additions from the rural areas have now surpassed the additions from the four metros. The rural areas added over 11.3 million subscribers in the first nine months of 2008. During the same period, the number of urban subscribers added was 10.3 million.
The report also adds that this trend is expected to continue until 2012 when an estimated 120 million rural users will switch to mobile devices compared to just 62 million in the urban spectrum.
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